If 2010 was Apple’s year in personal technology, with the launch of the iPad and major redesigns for the iPhone, MacBook Air and Apple TV, it is harder to call the winners of 2011, with Apple happy with incremental updates and the competition still striving to catch up.
Sony, Microsoft report Black Friday boom
The Black Friday glad tidings from consumer electronics makers continued on Tuesday, with Sony announcing a big rise in US sales and Microsoft reporting a record week for its Xbox 360 console and Kinect controller.
The news followed Nintendo’s announcement on Monday of record sales of its Wii and 3DS gaming machines. Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Facebook is close to a settlement with the US government over how it uses its members’ personal information, The Wall Street Journal reports. The settlement would require the social network to obtain users’ permission before sharing data in a way that is different from how they originally agreed the data could be used, people close to the negotiations told the WSJ. Read more
After using Sony’s cameras, consoles, e-readers, televisions and Walkman tape recorders over the years and enjoying its films, music and games, it’s nice to find a little of all of these inside its first tablet.
The Sony Tablet S, just launched, is an all-rounder of a device drawing its strengths from Sony Electronics’ diversity. It also has the trademark Sony style and the quirks that go with it. This is no plain vanilla tablet like many of its Android counterparts and it suffers less in comparison to the more mature iPad 2.
Sony’s Home improvement
Sony has been giving the media a sneak peek of the biggest makeover in the short history of Home – the games platform and online virtual world accessible through the PlayStation 3.
Games are being placed front and centre in the redesign, which was announced last month and will be introduced in the autumn, and the Home environment itself will become a game with the introduction of quests. Read more
Sony gave us the hard facts on the launch of its first tablets at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Wednesday, naming the two models and giving details of pricing and availability.
Sir Howard Stringer, Sony chief executive, said the products – arriving far later than any of its rivals – would take the tablet world to a new level and, in a jibe at the iPad, “prove that it’s not who makes it first that counts, but who makes it better”.
Sony tablets “better” than iPad
Sony gave us the hard facts on the launch of its first tablets at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Wednesday, naming the two models and giving details of pricing and availability.
Read more
Samsung seeks IFA lucky tablet streak
Samsung began the most serious challenge to Apple and the iPad when it unveiled the first in its Galaxy Tab series at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin a year ago.
It looks set to raise its game further back here in Berlin this week, where the Korean company, Sony and Toshiba, among others, are showing off new tablet formats to take on the iPad at their 2011 IFA press conferences. Read more
Google TV cut 60 per cent to $100
Logitech has cut the price of its Logitech Revue set-top box by 60 per cent to $99.99 from $249.99 in another sign that Google TV has failed to catch on with consumers. There are no indications that, as is often the case, the price cut presages a new Google TV unit from Logitech, which is the only company currently offering a standalone Google TV box. The Revue was launched last October at $300. Read more
UK says it has the right Topiary
A London court granted a warrant on Friday for the extended detention of a teenager suspected of being a leader and spokesman for the hacking group Lulz Security. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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